Why Do I Need to Know About Land Nav?

First let me say, I love technology.  I’m grateful for Google Maps with constant updates of road conditions, preprogrammed fastest routes, and speed trap warnings.  However, this is just a tool.  As we know, we should not rely on just one tool.  One is none, two is one. 

I was first exposed to the concept of navigation as a Boy Scout.  I wish I remembered the man’s name who said this so I could quote him properly. “Boys, a compass is just a tool.  It can lose accuracy.  You must be able to identify direction by the cues nature gives to you.”  I learned as a young man, that I had to have a P.A.C.E. Plan when it comes to navigation.  This has been beneficial throughout my Military career.  The ability to read a map and recognize the terrain that the map was showing me was crucial to me.  As a young infantryman, this ability was key in my success in earning my E.I.B. (Expert Infantry Badge), and later it was vital during Selection to become a Green Beret.   We weren’t allowed to use technology such as a GPS to get our grid coordinates.

How many of us plan our routes, or do we just trust Google?  Think back to the last time you took a family vacation.  Did you pull out the Atlas and plan as a family?  This is a great way to teach your family how read a road Atlas.  You can discover new things that Google might not give you.  I would like to share an example of one of our family trips.  While my wife was planning our route, she saw that if we diverted as we were going through Texas, we could go out of our way by just a couple hours and visit the home of one of my favorite authors.  This was well worth the added hours to our trip and I still praise my wife for the experience. 

While traveling with the family, having the Atlas, is a great way for the kids to maintain situational awareness.  Use it to find alternate routes.  These are games we can play that will strengthen their abilities and bring closeness and ownership to these experiences.  Them feeling ownership helps them feel belonging and part of the journey

A simple internet search for GPS spoofing will bring up several articles about nefarious people putting out false GPS signals, disrupting people’s travels.  We must be aware that this is a capability and not have that blind trust in technology that can be hacked.  Once again, by putting in a little bit of time and effort, we can educate ourselves and be better prepared.  In a nutshell, why do we need to know land nav?  Signals can be lost or jammed, batteries die, and it never a good idea to depend on one piece of equipment.  As you are reading this article, which direction is North?

Did you get that question right?

Chris